TUNNEL IN THE SKY by ROBERT A. HEINLEIN

Rod went over and offered his arm to Sue. He did not think about it; the stylized amenities of civilization were returning and the formal politenesses of the dance made them seem natural. He led her out and assisted in making a botch of Texas Star.

Later, tired, happy, and convinced that the others in his square had made the mistakes and he had straightened them out, Rod returned Sue to Bill, bowed and thanked him, and went back to the place that was always left for him. Margery and her assistants were passing out little brown somethings on wooden skewers. He accepted one. “Smells good, Marge. What are they?”

“Mock Nile birds. Smoked baby-buck bacon wrapped around hamburger. Salt and native sage, pan broiled. You’d better like it; it took us hours.”

“Mmmm! I do! How about another?”

“Wait and see. Greedy.”

“But I need more. I work hardest. I have to keep up my strength.”

“That was work I saw you doing this afternoon?” She handed him another.

“I was planning. The old brain was buzzing away.

“I heard the buzzing. Pretty loud, when you lie on your back.”

He snagged a third as she turned away, looked up to catch Jacqueline smiling; he winked and grinned.

“Happy, Rod?”

“Yes indeedy. How about you, Jackie?”

“I’ve never been happier,” she said seriously.

Her husband put an arm around her. “See what the love of a good man can do, Rod?” Jimmy said. “When I found this poor child she was beaten, bedraggled, doing your cooking and afraid to admit her name. Now look at her! fat and sassy.”

“I’m not that fat!”

“Pleasingly plump.”

Rod glanced up at the cave. “Jackie, remember the night I showed up?”

“I’m not likely to forget.”

“And the silly notion I had that this was Africa? Tell me if you had it to do over, would you rather I had been right?”

“I never thought about it. I knew it was not.”

“Yes, but ‘if’? You would have been home long ago.”

Her hand took her husband’s. “I would not have met James.”

“Oh, yes, you would. You had already met me. You could not have avoided it my best friend.”

“Possibly. But I would not change it. I have no yearning to go ‘home,’ Rod. This is home.”

“Me neither,” asserted Jimmy. “You. know what? This colony gets a little bigger and it’s getting bigger fast Goldie and I are going to open a law office. We won’t have any competition and can pick our clients. He’ll handle the criminal end, I’ll specialize in divorce, and we’ll collaborate on corporate skulduggery. We’ll make millions. I’ll drive a big limousine drawn by eight spanking buck, smoking a big cigar and sneering at the peasants.” He called out, “Right, Goldie?”

“Precisely, colleague. I’m making us a shingle: ‘Goldstein & ThroxtonGet bailed, not jailed!'”

“Keerect. But make that: ‘Throxton & Goldstein.'”

“I’m senior. I’ve got two more years of law.”

“A quibble. Rod, are you going to let this Teller U. character insult an old Patrick Henry man?”

“Probably. Jimmy, I don’t see how you are going to work this. I don’t think we have a divorce law. Let’s ask Caroline.”

“A trifle. You perform the marriages, Rod; I’ll take care of the divorces.”

“Ask Caroline what?” asked Caroline.

“Do we have a divorce law?”

“Huh? We don’t even have a getting married law.”

“Unnecessary,” explained Goldstein. “Indigenous in the culture. Besides, we ran out of paper.

“Correct, Counselor,” agreed Jimmy.

“Why ask?” Caroline demanded. “Nobody is thinking about divorce or I would know before they would.”

“We weren’t talking about that,” Rod explained. “Jackie said that she had no wish to go back to Terra and Jimmy was elaborating. Uselessly, as usual.”

Caroline stared. “Why would anybody want to go back?”

“Sure,” agreed Jimmy. “This is the place. No income tax. No traffic, no crowds, no commercials, no telephones. Seriously, Rod, every one here was aiming for the Outlands or we wouldn’t have been taking a survival test. So what difference does it make? Except that we’ve got everything sooner.” He squeezed his wife’s hand. “I was fooling about that big cigar; I’m rich now, boy, rich!”

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